uty, and
distinguishes it inexplicably and inevitably from all that is but a
little lower than the highest.

Les aigles sur les bords du Gange et du Caystre
Sont effrayants;
Rien de grand qui ne soit confusement sinistre;
Les noirs paeans,

Les psaumes, la chanson monstrueuse du mage
Ezechiel,
Font devant notre oeil fixe errer la vague image
D'un affreux ciel.

L'empyree est l'abime, on y plonge, on y reste
Avec terreur.
Car planer, c'est trembler; si l'azur est celeste,
C'est par l'horreur.

L'epouvante est au fond des choses les plus belles;
Les bleus vallons
Font parfois reculer d'effroi les fauves ailes
Des aquilons.

And even in comedy as in tragedy, in prosaic even as in prophetic
inspiration, in imitative as in imaginative works of genius, the
sovereign of modern poets has detected the same touch of terror wherever
the deepest note possible has been struck, the fullest sense possible of
genuine and peculiar power conveyed to the student of lyric or dramatic,
epic or elegiac masters.

De la tant de beautes difformes dans leurs oeuvres;
Le vers charmant
Est par la torsion subite des couleuvres
Pris brusquement;

A de certains moments toutes les jeunes flores
Dans la foret
Out peur, et sur le front des blanches metaphores
L'ombre apparait;

C'est qu'Horace ou Virgile out vu soudain le spectre
Noir se dresser;
C'est que la-bas, derriere Amaryllis, Electre
Vient de passer.

Nor was it the Electra of Sophocles, the calm and impassive accomplice
of an untroubled and unhesitating matricide, who showed herself ever in
passing to the intent and serious vision of Webster. By those candid
and sensible judges to whom the praise of Marlowe seems to imply a
reflection on the fame of Shakespeare, I may be accused--and by such
critics I am content to be accused--of a fatuous design to set Webster
beside Sophocles, or Sophocles--for aught I know--beneath Webster, if
I venture to indicate the superiority in truth of natural passion--and,
I must add, of moral instinct--which distinguishes the modern from
the ancient. It is not, it never will be, and it never can have been
natural for noble and civilized creatures to accept with spontaneous
complacency, to discharge with unforced equanimity, such offices or such
duties a